Siblings
by Create-tion
Summary: What if a few things were different with Naruto's life? What if Itachi had never died? What if there was an addition to someone's family? How would everything play out for the world of Naruto if Naruto wasn't the hero? COMMENTS AND REVIEWS ARE REALLY APPRICIATED!
1. A new start

Minato stood watching his beautiful wife holding their first born son and their adopted daughter for a picture with his old college professor. Something about this moment was wonderful and scary. He was a father of a two year old and a four month old. Naruto giggled and pulled at locks of his mother's vivid fiery hair. Kushina chuckled nuzzling her nose against his and looked over to Minato where he stood by the window.

"Honey, can you take Kai?" she asked cradling and rocking their daughter. They'd found Kai through mission work they'd done in a small Cantonese village off shore. Her parents had been killed by a horrible war lord and she'd been left to some soldiers awaiting reinforcements. Kushina had heard Kai crying in a barracks tent and gone to check it out and to Minato's bewilderment come back with a baby. Kai had stayed with them in their hut and they'd had to call a lawyer to arrange legally to take her from the country but money always helped that process. Minato was a very successful lawyer with many offshore accounts to keep his family safe.

"She needs to go to bed Kushina. It's very late." He held the tiny little baby girl close to his chest as she wriggled in her snuggled blanket.

"I know." Kushina pecked his cheek. "Will you put the kids to bed and I'll get everyone out of here?" she asked gently eyeing their party guests. It was Naruto's second birthday and they had a full suite of guests to rush out at ten o'clock at night. She watched her bright eyed husband take a bouncing Naruto by the hand down the hallway and cradled Kai to his chest. She had really hit the jackpot in college meeting such a wonderful man and father. She could never have asked for anything more.

Kushina worked hard making the rounds and taking wine glasses out of her guests hands as she ushered them out. There was many kissing of the cheeks and many hugs given out at the front door as she watched them get on the elevator to leave. She waved and smiled and sighed in relief when the last person walked out the apartment door. She nearly slid down the frame when she shut it finally.

"Everyone gone?" Minato asked chuckling. She smiled at him nodding.

"Did they go to bed for you alright dear?" he laughed.

"When do they ever sleep without a goodnight from their mother?" she should have known better. Kushina took her husband's hand and walked into the children's bedroom together. They owned enough square footage and bedrooms to provide the children with their own separate rooms but on their return with Kai, Naruto had become infatuated. Their pint sized bottle of endless energy had fallen in love with the little baby. He'd slept beside on the floor by her crib refusing to stay in his own room until finally Minato had reluctantly put the toddlers bed into the same room.

"Momma!" Naruto cried sitting up immediately in bed reaching his tiny little hands up for her. She walked over hearing Kai making cherub noises form the crib and knelt over Naruto picking him up.

"It's bedtime my lovely baby." She kissed his forehead and smiled turning to find Minato cradling Kai facing her.

"I love you." He whispered kissing her lightly.

"I love you too."

"NARUTO SHUT UP!" Kai shouted over the loud banging music shredding from the living room. She groaned lowering her head onto the kitchen table where she sat holding her ears. The asshole had been having band practice with his friends from college for about an hour now and Kai had three midterms to study for. She sighed hitting her forehead off the marble counter and rubbed her temples. This had to stop. She had to do it. She hated doing it…hated playing the bad guy…but Naruto needed this. Plus, she knew he had work at seven in the morning.

"OUT!" she snapped yelling over the music. She flickered the lights on and off a bunch of times cutting their power cords on and off. Their music got screwed and she made a point to thrust her finger at the door to the back porch.

"Aw come one!" Naruto whined like a kid.

"EVERYONE O.U.T!" she yelled pointing again exaggerating the stance. She put on hand on her hip and leveled her glare at the four boys. Shino, Choji, Sasuke, and Neji smirked looking at Naruto and then to her. Neji nodded to her setting his bass in the corner.

"Good evening Mom." He laughed and the boys all headed out the door shoving each other and punching each other's arms. Naruto sat at his drum set moping and glanced up at her.

"Don't start. You have homework to do too. You have work in the morning and I have midterms."

"You're not mom." He said getting up a little bit more angry than normal.

"Someone has to be an adult BIG brother." She snapped rolling her eyes crossing her arms over her chest.

"I'm going out." He snatched his keys from the wall hook and made a face at her.

"Whatever, fine, go get drunk and roll in at four. At least it will be quiet for me to study." she made a face back at him.

It wasn't until Naruto had left squealing his Mustang's tires that Kai literally slumped down into the arm chair by the door. It had been like this since their parents had died. Naruto had been eight and Kai had been six when their uncle Jiraya had told them that their parents had been murdered by an opposing client in a large case their father had been working on. They'd been kept under lock and key for fear that the hired gunmen would come after them. Jiraya had been a good parent until Naruto was starting high school. The old bastard had drank profusely one night and gotten in a car to drive and see some woman upstate and wrecked. He'd died before he'd hit the ER. Kai had seen Naruto spiral. He'd started drinking, tried drugs, and just stopped doing anything. Important. Kai had ended up recruiting Sasuke's older brother Itachi to knock the shit into Naruto. It hadn't worked completely but he'd gotten a lot better. As far as Kai knew the drugs had stopped and the drinking was to a minimum. She kept a tight ship on him and usually called his phone a thousand times until he got tired of the number going up in the red bubble on his screen; he'd either answer it or come home which were both fine. She just wanted to know that he was alive. There was a ringing from the kitchen and she sighed pushing herself up so that she could go answer her cell.

"Hello?" she said hitting the screen agitated and tired.

"I heard the car burn out. You alright?" Itachi asked yawning on the other end.

"It woke you up?" she asked sitting back at the kitchen table.

"Yeah sort of. Hard to sleep when daredevil goes playing street racer." She chuckled a little.

"Do you guys care if I swing by? I hate it when he comes home blitzed…plus I have four midterms in the morning." Sasuke yelled from the background.

"WHY DO YOU STILL ASK?" Itachi made a grunting noise that sounded like it was accompanied by a thud. Sasuke groaned in the background cussing.

"Did you hit him?" she asked grinning but was already scooping up her books.

"He's rude." She rolled her eyes.

"Just unlock your door idiots."


	2. Can't lose you

Kai didn't bother going home the next morning to grab any of her things. She showered at the Uchiha's apartment and stole Itachi's hoodie and a pair of Sasuke's sweatpants to go take her tests. Itachi was awake listening in the apartment while lying in his bed as Kai shifted around the bathroom softly. She was always so quiet unlike his idiot brother who normally rampaged through the place like a hungry bear until Itachi got up to make them breakfast. He also knew that Kai had a few large tests today and she wouldn't be back, if she was back later, until nightfall. He yawned turning over on his side reaching for his iphone. It was five thirty in the morning. Good god…he groaned and buried his head under the pillows. He was going back to sleep. His little brother and his friends would survive for another two hours.

Sasuke met his elder brother in the kitchen greeted with the glorious warm smell of bacon and coffee. He smirked walking in stretching popping his neck in two or three places and glanced at Itachi as he flipped the bacon with a fork in the frying pan. His brother's hair was down out of his signature ponytail and about his shoulders. He couldn't resist.

"What's this? A lovely female in my kitchen?" Itachi flipped him off over his shoulder.

"Kiss my ass little brother." He smirked turning to face him.

"What time did Kai leave?" he asked tilting his head as he leaned against the chair by the oak table.

"Early. She had midterms I think…about four?" he shrugged. "You know how she gets worried about them. She's applying for that internship in the fall with Dad's company. If she doesn't pass these tests she won't get it." Sasuke nodded knowing that their father only hired the best attorneys in the upcoming world.

Shortly after Minato's and Kushina's deaths their father had taken the time to take care of the loose ends that mattered to his friend. His children needed to be taken care of and naturally he'd offered to keep the kids under his roof. However, the will had left the young babes to Minato's old professor and mentor Jiraya. In light of the recent events Jiraya did see it fit to keep all of Minato's business intact with a good firm. He wanted a place where, if either of the children ever wanted to restart their father's firm, that they would be able to do so. Sasuke and Itachi's father had taken Minato's firm and invested it into the heart of their own. They had left a branch however and the entire company's funding in a trust for the children should they ever want to open it back up under the former name. Kai was focusing on doing just that. She'd always loved arguing, much to itachi's annoyance, and she'd conned their dad into getting an internship if she passed her LSAT.

"She's working a bit hard." Itachi chuckled eating some bacon yawning.

"Sasuke, dad never came home when we were kids because he was always working, she'd just doing what lawyers do." That didn't mean that he had to like it.

"I tried calling Naruto all last night. I can't get a hold of him." Sasuke said sneaking over to grab some bacon too. His hand got smacked with the wooden spatula. He cussed shaking it out rubbing it glaring up at his brother.

"Not until it's finished." He snapped wagging a finger at Sasuke. "And Naruto's probably back at the apartment sleeping off his drunken stupor. You could have gone out with him you know instead of leaving." Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"Kai shut the band practice down. I'm not arguing with Miss Mafia Mom." Itachi gave him a droll stare.

"Be nice. She'd trying to be responsible. Not that you…" he poked the younger raven's forehead, "Would understand that concept at all my reckless little brother." Sasuke huffed shoving Itachi's hand away glaring.

"Stop that." He snapped. Itachi laughed.

"Always so hot tempered."

"Fuck off." Sasuke said grabbing a coffee cup from the upper cabinets.

"Love you too." He tilted his head slightly chuckling.

Kai was exhausted and ready to drop by the time she rolled home in her beat up Ford. She'd barely been able to complete her last midterm and on the drive home her eyes had fallen shut nearly three times. Her cell phone had been silent all day. Much to her worry Naruto had not called or texted her all day. The lights were off as she arrived near the apartment she could tell that the garage door hadn't been moved. She had put a flower pot in front of it when she'd left the night before knowing that Naruto would have had to move it to park the car inside. She did little stupid things like that so when she got home she'd know he was there. However, once or twice her intelligent brother had figured out that he could walk home and leave the car at the bar. She'd been greeted by a drunken asshole that she'd had to clean up and put to bed or clean up puke from as far as the kitchen to the bathroom. Balancing her book bag on her left arm she fished for the keys in the bottom of her briefcase sighing. The air was biting with a delicate cold that breathed down the back of her neck making her hair stand on end.

The door popped open easily and she swung it wide with her foot shoving her way in. She dropped all of her things at the door drawing in a tired sigh letting her shoulders fall forward. She headed into the kitchen to grab a glass of water flicking on the lights as she went. Odd. Normally when Naruto came home, even drunk, he turned on the hallway light. She took a long swig from the cheap glass cup and leaned her head through the frame of the kitchen glancing down the hallway. Nothing was on. Setting the glass on the counter she let her fingers roam through her coat pocket for her phone.

"Naruto?" she called down the hallway. There was no answer. No groaning…no anything. She marched down the hallway ready to beat the shit out of him if he thought this was a funny way to punish her. She snapped his bedroom light on washing the room in a bright orange and noticed that the aqua bed sheets weren't touched. The bed was still perfectly tucked and made from the day before when she'd cleaned the house. A shiver ran down her spine. No matter how much they'd fought…Naruto had always come home.

"NARUTO!?" she called about the apartment looking for him. Her fingers dialed on her phone before she'd realized she'd done it.

"Oi, it's late. Why do you always call me when it's late?" Kiba snapped on the other side. "I can't come over tonight, I'm at Ten…" she cut him off.

"Have you seen Naruto?" she rushed out urgently. "Has he texted you? Is he at your place?" there was silence on the other end.

"No…I haven't seen him since yesterday." Worry and terror was starting to seize Kai.

"Call everyone please. He didn't come home." Kiba sounded alert suddenly.

"I will. Hey, do you want me to come over?" she sighed running shaking hands through her hair.

"No. No. I'll call Sasuke and Itachi over…maybe Fukagu…we need someone to hunt Naruto down."

Naruto had never done this before and Kai couldn't handle it. Of all the selfish shitty things he had done over the past few years he knew…he KNEW that not coming home was the worst sort of scum bag thing he could pull. Kai had panic attacks and horrible anxiety; she'd developed this after the death of Jiraya and her parents. They'd already lost so many things they'd loved…three people…and Naruto thought this was a game! She could NOT lose her brother! She wouldn't! She needed Naruto to be alright…he was all she had left.


	3. The man in the Dark

Bile rose in the back of Kai's throat. She was gripped in panic as Fukagu paced around the living room in front of her. Itachi sat to her left rubbing her upper back watching her intently. Her face was in her hands as she felt her breathing rack her body forward and back in panic. Sasuke was on the phone calling person after person and Kiba was down the hall in Naruto's room trying to find something that would tell them where he was. Kai could feel it. Something was wrong. Something was seriously wrong and when he still wouldn't pick up his cell phone she'd called her future firm partner.

"Kai…this is going to all turn out alright. I've called in a few favors with some cops from the town and they're coming here to pick you up. Itachi will go with you and you'll start looking at normal places he goes." She glanced up at him her eyes bloodshot from stress.

"He hasn't been home in two nights!" she whispered frantically. He bent his knees in front of her putting his hands on his knees making eye contact with her.

"You're not going to lose Naruto. I promised you that I would keep him safe." Itachi sighed hearing the sirens as the cop cars approached the house.

"He's not safe. I know he's not safe. I can feel it!" she jerked to her feet away from Itachi. "He's not ok." She whispered looking towards the door as a man in uniform opened it.

"Are you Kai Uzumaki?" he asked.

"She is yes. My son Itachi is going with you." Iruka nodded and looked at the two children.

"Let's get going. The bar first?" he asked sighing knowing that Naruto often enjoyed getting arrested for drunken public displays from the bar towards the other side of town.

"Iruka thank you." Itachi said putting a hand on the seniors shoulder as he moved guiding Kai out. She was shaking and had her arms closed around herself trying to keep it together.

Once the door had shut Sasuke came closer to his father watching them all climb into the car from the window. He had not seen Kai this bad since the day Iruka had told them about Jiraya's death around the back of the school. They honestly had all been waiting for this day to come; they'd all known Naruto would pull something like this…the only thing he could hope was that his best friend was not dead laying along the side of a road…

"Do you think she's right? Do you think he's dead?" he asked his father still staring out the window.

"I am fearful that something is gravely wrong. Sometimes people who've been through that much tragedy have a certain sense for chaos when it's on their doorstep. I think she might actually be able to tell that he isn't okay. Sasuke…" he said looking at his youngest son. "I think we need to prepare for the worst."

"DON'T SAY THAT!" Kiba yelled from the kitchen stomping into the room.

"Kiba…" Fukagu began.

"NO!" the boy snapped. "Naruto is ALIVE and he's going to be ok! We have to find him…" they had to find him because as much as they hated to admit it that blonde idiot sort of tied them all together.

Fukagu could not have been more right. When trouble ensued the Uzumaki family it certainly fulfilled its job. By around nine that evening Iruka had yet to report back to the lawyer about finding Naruto. He hadn't even heard from Kai. As a prominent future partner he was looking forward to seeing that girl shine under his company's name. She had a wicked tongue and as he'd watched her perform on the court room floor in minor cases while working in school people tended to back down and listen when she came at them. She had a spark in her that he'd always seen in his long-time friend Minato. Her eyes lit up during a heated court debate and she was always the first one to sneak suggestive notes about the defendant to her prosecuting attorney. He was mildly concerned that he hadn't gotten any word back. Sasuke's phone rang beside him on the couch and he snatched it up. His son had fallen asleep in the kitchen with his head on a table and he didn't want to wake him up. Kiba had been watching TV in the chair to his right and instantly muted it.

"Hello? Naruto?" Fukagu read the caller ID before sliding the screen.

"Not quiet." A low voice murmured from the other end. It was a voice he would always remember and one he hadn't heard for many years.

When his first son had been born, a tragedy had befallen his family as well. His wife had fallen ill and he'd had to pay big money to keep her in a hospital room that could keep up with her agitated condition. He'd almost lost her and Itachi. Through the whole of the illness and stress his distant family member Madara had kept him company. He'd helped run the firm and keep Fukagu on track with all the key cases. He'd also helped watch Itachi after his birth for the first few weeks while his wife had still been sick. However, Madara had also been a great danger to his family and until the night they'd found him holding Itachi in a bathtub of water below the surface, they'd never known. His cousin, or so it was confirmed with testing, had had a long history of mental illness battling bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. After the attempted murder of his son they'd dug around his files and also believed him to be associated with the slayings of Minato and Kushina. There was no way to pin point it exactly but he'd never taken a team of investigators off the task to this day. Madara had run the night he'd almost killed Itachi and the cops had never been able to find him. Until now…that voice…was Uchiha Madara's and there was no mistaking it.

"Where is Naruto?" he lowered his voice dangerously into the phone's speaker.

"Tsk. Tsk." Madara chuckled form the other end. "The boy's on his way home now. Although I had some fun with him and he is a bit scared he's alive. However, I can't say the same for how much longer your eldest son will stay alive Fukagu." Ice water froze in his veins.

"WHERE IS MY SON!?" he yelled unable to control himself. Laughter filtered through the other line.

"He's unconscious laying on my floor beside that little shit working for your firm." He snapped the laughter dying. "At the moment he's alive. You might want to thank the girl for that. She traded herself for her brother and Itachi sort of came with the deal. He wouldn't leave her side. So I took them both." Fukagu was in a full panic and ran into the kitchen grabbing Sauske's shoulder jerking him awake. He whispered to his youngest son to call the police immediately. He had to keep Madara on this phone line.

"What about the cop. They were with a cop." He pressed for information.

"He's probably dead by now. You mean the one attractive young male with short brown hair of course right? The one with a scar over his nose?" he teased. "Yes, I think he has a bullet in his chest and I left him lying by his cruiser."

"What are you planning?" he fumed trying to lid his anger for his son's and Kai's sake. One wrong move here and they could both die.

"Just a little family reunion…you know, getting to know your son. And really in the end of it all," he smirked leaning back in a chair of a dark room, "I'm going to finish what I started. This girl is mine Fukagu. Interfere and you won't get your son back. A friend of mine will be in touch with you. Don't worry about when and where, I'll have it all linked up. You'll had a bag waiting with you at all times filled with five million dollars. My associate will take this bag from you and in exchange you'll get your son back in a day's time." Fukagu couldn't breathe.

"What about Kai?" he asked.

"Oh she's not part of this deal. It's your son or nothing. The girl's all mine."


	4. Kidnapped

By all means waking up in a windowless room would be grounds for panic. Waking up beside a limp body in a windowless room with one flickering light above his head freaked Itachi the hell out. He shifted his weight cringing when a rocketing pain erupted through his left leg. He glanced down realizing that the pain was coming from; there was a swollen bullet wound in his thigh. The blood had seized out over his jeans make shift gluing them to his skin in that spot. He grit his teeth and took a long slow breath wrapping his hands around his thigh so that he could move it up bending his knee. It hurt like a nest full of angry bees were swarming inside his leg stinging his nerves from the inside out. He glanced gingerly at the body on the floor beside him as his vision swam from moving his leg. He sucked in another hard breath realizing that it was Kai.

"Kai…" he whispered. His eyes roamed her body noting there was also a sizeable amount of blood matted and cracked in her hair at the back of her head. He leaned over half dragging his leg to check her pulse. Holding his breath he let his fingers fall over her skin…there was a faint thrumming beneath his forefinger like a birds wings. He remembered now what all had transpired from the moment they'd walked outside of the bar when looking for Naruto.

"_I guess he's not here…where else should we look Kai?" Iruka had asked glancing back at the two kids fishing the keys from his pocket. _

"_I'm not sure. We could look downtown." She sighed rubbing her hands over her face. Itachi put a hand on her shoulder gently._

"_We will find him. He will be fine." He soothed her softly._

"_I just know something isn't ok…" _

"_Uchiha, Itachi?" a voice spoke from beside the police cruiser as they neared it. Iruka had seen that it was a male in his middle thirties that looked an awful lot like Fukagu and others from the Uchiha family. _

"_Who wants to know?" Itachi snapped narrowing his eyes. Before he'd had a chance to think there had been a gunshot. It had rang out loud in the night scaring the living hell out of Itachi. He had grabbed Kai's arm yanking her back behind himself as Iruka had stumbled grabbing for his gun. _

"_I really do love a man in uniform, but sadly it's the wrong night for you." Another gunshot._

"_RUN!" Itachi had screamed shoving Kai back towards the bar. The body of Iruka fell to the ground beside them his head cracking off the pavement with a loud thump. There was a new hole there between his eyes._

There had been a shot to his leg and he'd been hit in the back of the head. After that he didn't know what happened but guessing by the wound in the back of Kai's head he'd hit her as well. It wasn't a gunshot wound but most likely from the butt of the gun handle. Who had that man been? He'd looked so much like his father and Sasuke. Itachi sighed and tried to nudge Kai's shoulders. She made a soft groaning noise and half rolled onto her side coughing. Her eyes slit open a fraction and he could see red where there should be white; it was possible the blow to her head had given her a concussion and busted a blood vessel in her eyes. He waited as she tried to prop herself up on her elbows making a face squeezing her eyes shut tightly.

"Kai?" he whispered. She glanced around to him trying to sit up. He helped her slipping an arm under her shoulders and moved back as she cussed holding the base of her head.

"What the hell happened?" she swayed where she sat for a moment.

"I'm not sure, but suffice it to say…we're kidnapped?" she groaned again and put her face in her hands bringing her knees up so that she could put her face there.

"Why? This makes no sense." She was trying to make the room stop spinning.

"I don't know…" he said gently rubbing her back. "But uhm, I have a question for you…"

"Yeah?" she glanced up at him blinking.

"Can you dig a bullet out of my leg without puking?" she sat up straight her eyes wide.

"Oh my gosh…" she breathed out leaning over him touching his leg. "Shit! Itachi…we have to get this out!"

"Yeah…ow…that's why I asked." He swallowed as pain blossomed where she was touching him.

Sasuke and Kiba grabbed Naruto the moment they'd seen him stumbling down the sidewalk. The boy was beaten like he'd been run over with a car. His face was swelling to the point that his eyes were barely open and several black and purple bruises were starting to form over his cheeks. His nose was broken and as far as they could tell he had several broken ribs. Fukagu rushed over clearing the table in the dining room where they laid him so they could inspect the extent of damage.

"Get his shirt off now." The old man ordered as Kiba complied taking the blood soaked material off his friend. Sure enough there were disgusting violet splotches formed over his ribs and stomach. There were also several sweltering blisters festering in various places which almost looked like burns, freshly applied burns.

"Naruto, can you hear me?" Sasuke took his best friends face gingerly in his hands. "Naruto…"

"I can….ow….holy hell…" he moaned in a cracked voice coughing. He was missing a tooth to the right side of his mouth where his cheek was slightly larger than it should have been.

"What happened? Sasuke can you tell me what happened?" he snapped quickly before the drunken idiot lost consciousness.

"Easy. He's not all there right now." Kiba grabbed the Uchiha's hands trying to pull them off. Naruto groaned turning his head to the side coughing more. Sasuke glared at the dog lover punching him hard in the jaw.

"Get off! This is important!" he yelled as his father brought the two cops in behind him. "Naruto, what happened? We have to know. Someone has my brother…and Kai!" he screamed taking the boy's face in his hands again forcing him to look at him.

"Uch….Uchiha…..Madara…" he moaned rubbing at his stomach curling up on his side. Fukagu stiffened as the officers looked at him. It was exactly what he thought it was. The man had really come back to finish what he'd started.

"Naruto…" Sasuke sighed running a hand through the other's hair gently. "You idiot…why do you always have to do this? Kai was so worried about you…she knew something was wrong…damnit." Kiba watched the two raising an eyebrow. Now he knew Sasuke and Naruto had been inseparable since high school but that was a little out of character for the raven. He was usually very emotionally guarded and here he was leaning over the blonde.

"Sasuke, move back so the officers can handle this." Fukagu snapped eyeing his son.

"I'm sorry." He said quickly backing off from Naruto as the officer to his right leaned over calling for a medical unit over his radio to examine Naruto.


End file.
